Stay strong, Jo

One of the best friends an abused or neglected child can have, Jo Blum, is stepping down as executive director of Families First.
A cancer survivor who has undergone four successful surgeries in as many years, Blum has just been told that another lesion has appeared on one of her lungs. Her doctors are in the process of determining what her next course of treatment will be.
“It is very small,” Blum says of the lesion, but “it is time to focus more of my energies on getting and staying healthy.”
The good news is that she isn’t cutting all ties with the agency she has headed for over a decade. She’ll work there on a part-time basis, completing tasks “in a few critical areas.”Mary Hencmann becomes the acting executive director and spokesperson. “Mary has stepped in for me many times in the past and I have complete confidence that she can handle anything that comes her way, but she does not wish to stay in this role permanently,” Blum says. “Together, Mary and I will work with the governing board to prepare a search committee to find just the right leader to guide Families First into the future.”
One of Blum’s favorite sayings is: “Asking for help is a sign of strength.” Thus, she is asking Families First supporters for their help in making the change in leadership “as smooth and stress-free for me as possible. Additionally, I am counting on your continued support and creative fundraising for our important mission of empowering parents and nurturing children. To see Families First continue to evolve as the leading family resource in Colorado would put a smile on my face and be the most healing of all.”
Most importantly, though, as she looks ahead to September and the start of treatment, Blum says: “I feel healthy, strong, and ready for this next phase of my life.”Denver Post Society Editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com. Her column appears every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

Study after study has shown that when it comes to charitable fundraisers, Denver has more per capita than any comparably sized city in the nation. Joanne Davidson has been covering them for The Denver Post since 1985, coming here from her native California where she'd spent the previous seven years as San Francisco bureau chief for U.S. News & World Report magazine.